Feathered friends? Seems as if roof workers, peregrines have an understanding

June 03, 2006|SUE LOWE Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Employees of Midland Engineering came about as close to making friends with a pair of peregrine falcons as is possible last week. Derek Day, Brian Kmitta and Josh Black realized they were in for trouble May 24 when County-City Building employees put on their hard hats before escorting them to the roof for maintenance. The minute the men got there, Guinevere and Zephyr, the pair of peregrine falcons nesting on the Tower Building, started diving at them, trying to force them off the roof. "They attacked," Day said. "It was pretty scary at first." "The first day, we could hardly work," he continued. "We were jumping behind the walls and anything else. People in the City Center Building were probably dying laughing." Workers there knew what all the fuss was about because they could see over to the Tower Building and spy the three chicks the two adult birds were protecting. About two hours into the second day of work on the roof, Day said, the birds apparently decided the workers weren't going to harm the babies. So the birds began to just watch the employees. "We would turn around and they would be sitting on the ledge," Day said. "It was really interesting." But being that close to falcons isn't all fun and games, as their eating habits are not pretty. "It was really gross," Day said. "They would bring dead birds and pluck the feathers off them." After their job was done, the men realized they had had a pretty neat experience. They even were able to take pictures of the birds watching them. Carole Riewe, a retired naturalist and raptor rehabilitator, said there are only 12 peregrine nests in the state. Beginning this weekend, Riewe and others who keep tabs on the birds will begin enlisting the help of others to watch over the birds from the ground. The chicks aren't expected to fly until next week, even though they've been sitting on the ledge of the nest box all week. Also this weekend, posters will be placed in the windows of buildings near the Tower Building, which will include telephone numbers of those who should be notified if a chick is spotted on the ground. Riewe asks that those spying a chick on the ground just stand over the bird until help arrives.Staff writer Sue Lowe: slowe@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6557